In a much more important and better researched study of the link between stress and asthma than my post about how the holidays always set off a flare for Asthma Girl, researchers have uncovered a pretty strong link between post-traumatic stress disorder and asthma. You can read about the study in more detail at Science Daily, or you can cheat with my summary:
1. Scientists studied 3,065 identical and fraternal male twin pairs of Vietnam veterans.
2. The twins grew up together, meaning they had the same childhood environment.
3. The twins with more PTSD symptoms also had more asthma symptoms.
4. In fact, all the twins were 2.3 times more likely to have asthma if they had strong PTSD symptoms than those twins without severe symptoms.
5. Results were similar for the identical and the fraternal groups, meaning genetics don’t really account for the link. (Identical twins have the same genetic makeup while fraternal twins only have 50% in common.)
6. Scientists noticed the link even after taking asthma risk factors like smoking, obesity, and poverty into account.
What does this mean to you and me?
For me, it’s validation that all my connection-making about AG’s nervous personality and her asthma doesn’t make me a total idiot.
For you, it means keep an eye on your lungs and your children’s if any of you suffer from anxiety, depression, PTSD, or similar illnesses. You may just be at increased risk to develop asthma. Or vice versa. Asthma may predispose you to anxiety and depression.
Or, as the article states, the two disorders may occur together for some as-yet unknowable reason. No one really understands which direction the link points yet, so the fun with asthma and its causes just keeps on going.
